Thomas bell



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wA PETERS, PHOTlrLITHO-GRAPHEH. WASHINGTONy D c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS BELL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ARRANGEMENT OF CAMELS FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 17,826, dated July 21, 185'7.`

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS BELL, of the l city, county, and State of NewYork, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Camels for RaisingSunken, Stranded, or Floating Vessels; and I do hereby declare that thefollowin is a full, clear, and eXact description of t e same, referencebeing had to the accom anying drawings, forming part of this spec'cation, in which- Figure 1, is a side elevation of a ship with camelsconstructed and applied to it after my invention. Fig. 2, is a plan viewof the same.

Similar letters of reference in each of the several figures indicatecorresponding parts.

The nature of my invention consists in three camels so combined andarranged relatively to each other as that each one shall lserve as a suport for the other, and the threeunited s all form a bottomless dry ydock, or afirm and proper shaped support for the bow and the forwardportion of the vessel or the stern and after part of the same, wherebythe necessity of raising the vessel by taking hold of the bilge orweakest art thereof and of experiencing the reat culty attending t egetting of t e attachments of the camels under the keel are f cipally bythe bow and stern or at A partments which are furnished with pumps M andintended to serve se arately or unitedly as camels. The end anid sidecamels of each of the floats are of triangular form the inboard timbersof the side camels meeting in a point at the angle of the end camel, andbeing intersected and interlocked at the base of the outer timbers ofthe same, by the bulk head or inboard timbers C of the end tank. By thusuniting the camels it may be evident that a perfect system of truss workis produced and a firm and strong support for the vessel secured, and byhaving the side tanks of taper form on their inner side a space ofproper shape for the reception of the bow or stern of the vessel issecured, and by having said space open at top and bottom the necessityof passing chains etc., under the keel of the vessel is avoided. Thetanks or camels when applied are united together by chains K, K, andmade to clasp the bow and stern of the vessel, and should be of sufcientlength and capacity to afford buoyancy enough to raise and iloat vesselsof any tonnage desired, and the inboard timbers C, C, and bulkhead C ofthe camels made very heavy and strong so as to be capable of bearing anyweight which may be brought to bear upon them.

Operation: The camels being sunk and drawn on to each end of the sunkenvessel, and secured to each other as shown in the drawing, the pumps areoperated upon, when submerged, by means of ropes or rods passing up fromthe ends of the brakes of the pistons to the surface, and the waterumped out of the camels, and air admitte to fill its place, by means oftubes. As soon as the required quantity of water asses out and air takesits place the vesse begins to rise, until she rides upon the surface ofthe water, owing to the lifting power of the camels overbalancing thesinking power of the vessel, when she ma be transported by tugs or othermeans to er destination. In case the vessel is not sunken but simplystranded, while the water is low the tanks are to be drawn on to thevessel and secured to each other, so that when the rise of the tideoccurs they shall take the Weight of the vessel and lift her off thebottom so that she may be readily transported, without the use of pumps,to her place of destination.

There are several very important advantages derived from the use of myimprovements.

1st. It is racticable under all circumstances, whic is not the case withany other camel heretofore known and used. It is racticable under allcircumstances, 1st, because it does not require to be fastened on t0 thevessel by chains or hooks or other means; 2nd, because it does notrequire to be pressed under the keel or over or through the vessel g3rd, because it is durable and sufficiently strong to bear all the roughusages of the sea, and should the winds be strong or ice collect so asto endanger the safety of the vessel, after she has been raised to thesurface, by simply letting water into .into the camels.

the camels she may be lowered again on bottom and thus be placed beyondthe reach of their destructive influence.

2nd. When the vessel arrives at the dry dock which is to take her on forrepairs she may be righted up so as to take the list out of her or tocause her to set on an even keel, or she may be elevated at one end andlowered at the other by drawing o, or letting water 5th. It is always incondition for immediate and speedy application and use, not liable toget out of repair or sustain damage, and is very simple and cheap inconstruction compared with anything else for the same purpose heretoforeknown.

I am aware that J. N. Winslow obtained a patent Aug. 20, 1850, on adevice for raising vessels, but his device can only be applied when avessel is afloat and even then the thickness of the machine under thevessels keel adds to the draft of water that would otherwise be requiredand therefore the vessel must be lifted higher than is necessary with mycamels in order to carry her in the same depth of water.

I am also aware that O. T. Williams obtained a patent Feby. 24, 1852,for a device for accomplishinga similar result but his contrivance canonly be applied by hooking into a vessel at or near her bilge, which isthe weakest part of the ship, and the only part that can be hooked intoto lift directly up, and the unavoidable tendency of lifting This is avery important .feature and renders my invention a very with Mr.Williams rhooks is to haul outboard instead of inboard. They thereforecould not hold to the vessel; but admitting they did hook into thevessel so that the hooks did hold them, the plank that the hooks hookedinto would most certainly come olf, as there are but a few spikes andpins that hold a plank on but admit the hooks and planks both hold andkeep their place there is not sufficient strength in his attached frameas he constructs it but admitting all to hold and have sufficientstrength, in a few hours 'by the motion ofthe sea and strain on hisindia rubber it must unavoidably soon wear or chafe through even shouldhe be so lucky as to prevent the rubber coming in Contact with bolts orspikes or something to pierce it, which would probably happen andtherefore render his means entirely valueless.

I do not claim broadly the use of camels for raising sunken vesselsirrespective of the peculiar construction shown and described in myspecification, but

What I do claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

The arrangement of camels' herein described, whereby great strength issecured to support a vessel while being raised and transported, andwhereby the vessel will be ifted principally bythe bow and stern, orwhere the greatest strength exists and only partially fore and aft, orwhere the least strength exists; and whereby all the inconveniencesattending the application and use of those devices which require thatsome of their parts shall be passed under the keel or over or throughthe vessel are avoided,` and other numerous beneiits secured;substantially as set forth.

THOS. BELL. Witnesses:

CHARLES L. BARRITT, JOHN C. WAGsTAFF.

